Loose Feathers #648

Common Raven eating a frog / Photo by Jacob W. Frank/NPS

Birds and birding news

• Hemlock forests decimated by the hemlock woolly adelgid lose birds that breed in hemlock forests and their territories are taken by species that thrive in other forest types.
• When environmental conditions are difficult, Willow Flycatchers are likely to put off breeding until the next year.
• Birds that survived the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous were likely ground-dwelling birds since fossil evidence suggests that most trees were wiped out by fires and other disasters.
• A new study argues that birds lost their teeth to reduce the development time necessary before hatching.
• Searching for the critically endangered Niceforo's Wren required a dangerous river journey but turned up enough individuals that estimates of the wren's global population increased by 10%. 
• Scientists in Europe have been studying the migrations of White Storks with cellular tracking devices. Among the discoveries is that groups of migrants have leaders that search for thermals to make the flight easier for the others. Less efficient flyers that flap their wings more often tend to winter in southern Europe rather than flying all the way to Africa.
• Lead poisoning from spent ammunition is taking a toll on already-endangered vultures in Botswana and neighboring countries in southern Africa.
• Conservationists are using DNA analysis and other methods to track which captive African Gray Parrots were born in the wild to stop illegal capture and smuggling of the endangered parrots.
• Atlantic Puffins breeding in the Farne Islands have declined, according to the most recent survey data.
• Fairywrens from different species can recognize each other and cooperate.
• Dipping on a rare bird is disappointing but can be motivation to search for other vagrants.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: ABA Checklist Committee adds Four Species to ABA Checklist
• Tough Little Birds: You scared baby birds out of their nest, oh no! Will they be okay?
• The Prairie Ecologist: Making Species Identification Accessible to the Masses
• Avian Hybrids: A Dutch mystery: Can you guess which duck species have hybridized?  
• Warblers and rumors of warblers: Heron vs Frog
• awkward botany: Tiny Plants: Draba verna
• Kent Dragonflies: A Norfolk Dream Come True!  
• earthstar: Wild word: mnemonic
• Bird⋅The⋅Rock: Very Lost! A Purple Gallinule in Newfoundland  
• Natural Newstead: Thornbills … a quick guide
• Tetrapod Zoology: Of Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting 

Environment and biodiversity

• The National Park Service finally released its report on how sea level rise might affect national parks, which had been suppressed by the Trump administration. 
• The Trump administration is proposing to loosen federal hunting regulations in Alaska by allowing baiting of wolves and bears and shooting cubs in the dens. You can comment on the proposed rule here.
• States on the East Coast are moving ahead with plans for offshore wind developments. Massachusetts selected a group to build an 800-megawatt wind farm off Martha's Vineyard, and Rhode Island announced that it would consider bids for a 400-megawatt offshore project.
• Plastic debris has become such a problem along the coast that shore towns are starting campaigns to reduce plastic use. 
• The Chinese Giant Salamander, the largest amphibian in the world, turned out to be five species instead of one, and all of them are endangered.
• Shorter snowy seasons will cause problems for mammals that wear white coats in the winter.
• Light pollution has become a significant environmental problem in the U.S., and gas flares at energy fields are a major contributor. 
• Invasive lanternflies have potential to become a major crop pest in the northeast.

Loose Feathers #647

Prothonotary Warbler / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding news

• Last Saturday was the World Series of Birding in New Jersey. My team, the Middlesex Merlins, saw 122 species in Middlesex County, including a Ruff, and tied for fifth in the LGA competition. Here are the full standings (pdf). Teams recorded a total of 248 species (pdf) in the state.
• Southwestern Willow Flycatchers face a threat from climate change in addition to pressures from habitat destruction and nest parasitism. 
• The Canadian Rockies are a hybrid zone for birds with distinctive eastern and western populations, like Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers. 
• A new study finds that Darwin's finches could have originated in either South America or the Caribbean and that the group was so successful because its ancestral population had the genetic diversity to evolve many bill shapes.
• The survival of seabirds like the Nazca Booby is dependent on ocean cycles like El Niño, which suggests that the birds may have a hard time adjusting to climate change.
• Encouraging kestrels to nest around agricultural fields and orchards could reduce the need for pesticides.
• Conservationists are trying to restore habitat for the rare Cape Parrot, which has less than 2,000 individuals left. 
• The New-York Historical Society is running an exhibit displaying the feathered hats that nearly brought many bird species to extinction and inspired the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which turns 100 this year.
• Migration forecasts could reduce the number of birds colliding with buildings and wind turbines. 
• Audubon is looking for volunteers to track White-breasted Nuthatches and Eastern Bluebirds as part of a birds and climate change study.
• Australian Magpies can understand the meanings of other birds' alarm calls. 
• Ring-necked Parakeets in Spain have been attacking bats at their roost cavities and taking the holes for nesting.
• Warmer temperatures threaten tropical songbirds, but a warm spring is better for migratory breeding birds in Finland.
• Here are some tips for attracting hummingbirds.

Science and nature blogging

• Warblers and rumors of warblers: Kirtland's Warbler 
• 10,000 Birds: Kirtland’s Warbler in Central Park
• Feathered Photography: Things We Need To Think About When Approaching A Bird For Photography
• Extinction Countdown: Extinct in Algeria: Rare Plant Declared Lost
• Bird Ecology Study Group: The Decline of the Cinnamon Bittern? 
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Yellow Warbler Perched and Foraging in a Mystery Flowering, Thorny Tree

Environment and biodiversity

• It is best to leave spiders alone since they are important predators of other invertebrates.
• A group of hunters in Oregon and Washington are being charged with poaching dozens of mammals, including cougars and bobcats, and leaving their bodies to rot.
• Edith's Checkerspots have shown some ability to adapt to new host plants and back again.
• Republican lawmakers proudly displayed their ignorance about climate science in a hearing this week. 
• Hippopotamuses sometimes produce so much fecal matter that it causes fish kills.
• NJ.com mapped New Jersey's vegetation with satellite imagery.

Loose Feathers #646

Cinnamon Teal / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A science teacher argues for teaching ornithology (pdf) at the high school level in Birding. 
• Identifying warblers from below is difficult, but possible if you learn what to look for. 
• The use of tracking devices like geolocators allows scientists to track birds throughout the year and identify sites in need of conservation. 
• Elimination of invasive rats on South Georgia will make breeding easier for penguins and other birds that nest there.
• A new study suggests that Darwin's finches could have originated in either South American or the Caribbean.
• The last batch of Northern Bobwhite in New Jersey's reintroduction program were released earlier this year on a farm in Burlington County.
• A new study combining radar and citizen science data looks at how migratory birds compensate for bad weather.

Science and nature blogging

• Auk & Condor Updates: Where do birds molt their feathers? New research indicates molting grounds are discrete from breeding and wintering sites.
• Extinction Countdown: Amur Leopard Population Triples--to 103 
• awkward botany: The Creeping Charlies and Common Name Confusion
• The Brownstone Birding Blog: eBird Helps Draw Attention To Nature Preserves  
• Auk & Condor Updates: Wintering Warblers Choose Agriculture Over Forest
• 10,000 Birds: Endangered Species Act: Potential Downlisting for Hawaiian Goose (nene) 
• Avian Ecologist: Conservation Concern: Yellow Rails
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Red-breasted Nuthatches and Their Nesting Cavities
• Bird Ecology Study Group: The male Copper-throated Sunbird
• The Prairie Ecologist: Toxic Bee-Killing Hitchhiker Beetles (I Know, Right?)
• mocosocoBirds: The White Red-tailed Hawk of Watnong Mountain – May. 4, 2018 

Environment and biodiversity

• The Trump administration killed a program that monitored greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane remotely.
• The wild Red Wolf population is down to 40 individuals and could be extinct within eight years. The population crash seems to be linked to North Carolina's legalization of Coyote hunting, which caused the (accidental or deliberate) deaths of many Red Wolves.
• Illegal shooting has held back recovery of the Mexican Gray Wolf population are well.
• Elsewhere, Gray Wolves are losing ground in Alaska because logging is decimating their old-growth habitat.
• Pharmaceutical companies are finally starting to use a synthetic test rather than horseshore crab blood to test for bacterial contamination (a use that contributed to the decline of horseshoe crabs on the US east coast and elsewhere).
• New Jersey rejected a proposal to expand a nearby golf course into the Caven Point section of Liberty State Park, where habitat was recently restored and trails opened to the public.

Loose Feathers #645

White-crowned Sparrow / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Newly-analyzed fossil skulls of Ichthyornis dispar show a moment in the transition from dinosaurs to modern birds. Like dinosaurs it had muscular jaws with teeth, but other features of its skull are more similar to modern birds. (If you have access you can read the article here.)
• A scientist is looking for recordings of Mourning Warblers singing in migration, as part of a project tracking whether breeding populations stay together during migration and winter.
• Owens Lake in California became a source of toxic dust after it was drained to provide water to Los Angeles, but recently its wetlands were restored to reduce the dust, and the lake has become migratory shorebird habitat.
• Wetland restorations like that are important since the future is grim for many migratory shorebird species.
• I have not seen a Green Heron yet this year, but one has been hanging around a garden in Wales this week.
• The introduction of a beetle to control invasive tamarisk along southwestern rivers harmed conservation efforts for the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher.
• David Sibley has a reminder about how to get other birders on an interesting bird.
• A new study found that the umbrella species approach to habitat management breaks down when the needs of vulnerable bird species conflict with each other.
• Scientists have been tracking Egyptian Vultures to learn their migration routes.
• Warm water anomalies along the west coast of the U.S. have threatened seabird populations like the Heermann's Gull.

Science and nature blogging

• Snapshots of Nature: Trash Birds
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Forest Thrush Mix Up
• Auk & Condor Updates: Endangered Petrels and Trawl Fishing Clash in Tasman Sea
• awkward botany: The Seed Salting Experiments of Charles Darwin
• Cicada Mania: Cicada habitat in peril in Connecticut
• Natural History Museum Curator of Diptera: Celebrating Robber flies – big, beautiful venomous assassins
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Photographing Yellow-rumped Warblers in Cluttered and Clean Habitats
• The Bruce Mactavish Newfoundland Birding Blog: Odd Looking Thick-billed Murre - 28 April 2018
• Union Bay Watch: The Air Dance
• Edge Effects: Photographer Nathan Destro Finds Beauty in Human Presence in Nature 

Environment and biodiversity

• The levels of smog pollutants have stopped falling in the past several years as the easiest air pollution cuts have already been maybe. Stricter emissions rules have been formulated, but the implementation date keeps getting pushed back.
• While many Americans (especially politicians) continue to deny that climate change is real, truck drivers in Siberia are seeing the results up-close.
• USDA Wildlife Services killed 23,646 beavers in 2017, but there are better ways of coexisting with them.
• A reorganization plan would transfer several senior National Park Service employees, possibly with the goal of making them retire rather than move across the country. Meanwhile, Trump has still not nominated a director for the National Park Service.
• Last weekend, iNaturalist hosted the City Nature Challenge, which draws participants from around the world to record as many species as possible in their cities. Here is an interview with one of the participants from Seattle.
• Wood Frogs hold their urine all winter because it keeps them alive even as their bodies freeze.
• Wet wipes are not flushable, but get flushed down drains anyway and aggregate at the bottoms of rivers.
• Feral pigs now do most of the seed dispersal on Guam after invasive species wiped out the island's bird population.